Syracuse, N.Y. — Way back in 1994, Syracuse held a Midnight Madness at the appropriate, appointed hour.

Jim Boeheim, the Syracuse basketball coach, said then he agreed to stay up late to raise money for charity (the United Way was a beneficiary) and to promote his program.

"People have wanted it for a number of years, " Boeheim said then. "We'll see if they support it."

It's difficult to imagine that SU once needed the promotional push. The Orange had yet to win a national title. It was a season away from reaching the 1996 Final Four. Midnight Madness was staged in Manley Field House, which is now the home of an artificial turf practice field.

I reported back then that about 3,000 people disrupted their daily sleep habit to watch the spectacle.

Luke Jackson, who was alternately referred to as Lukie, Luke and Lucious during his Syracuse career, won the dunk contest and tied Marius Janulis in the 3-point shooting contest. Pearl Washington was introduced with much fanfare. People gasped when the relatively petite Roxi Nurse, the future wife of Donovan McNabb, was leveled in the lane by 6-foot-4 Syracuse teammate Thandeka Masimini during the women's scrimmage. The event lasted until 1:40 a.m.

Boeheim narrated his team's scrimmage with pointed observations like this: